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Notice to Voters

In three short weeks the voters of Sarasota County will be deciding whether to amend our county charter and change our method of voting. As your supervisor of elections I support neither position. However, I believe the public needs to have the facts in order to make an informed decision.

A "Yes" vote on the amendment will mean that we will replace our current touch screen voting system, manufactured by Election Systems and Software (ES&S), with an optical scan voting system, which uses a paper ballot. Voters would fill in or darken bubbles to indicate their choices and then feed the ballot through a scanner that would electronically tabulate those choices.

There is only one system on the Florida horizon that complies with the provisions of the amendment. That is the ES&S optical scan system with the Automark for the blind and visually impaired to vote a secret ballot, which is required by both state and federal law. However, at this time, this system has not been certified by the State of Florida.

The proposed amendment does not allow for us to buy what is known as a VVPAT (voter verifiable paper audit trail) system that is used in some states because the VVPAT system tabulates electronically and does not use a paper ballot.

The proposed amendment designates the paper ballot as the official record of all elections. Proponents of the amendment say they prefer the paper ballot because there is something tangible to recount. However, Florida law does not allow a manual recount of paper ballots. Only over votes and under votes are separated out and recounted in a close election. That is uniform throughout the 67 counties. The touch screen system does have the capability to produce a hard (paper) copy of each and every vote cast so that under votes can be isolated and recounted. Touch screens do not allow over votes.

In 2001, the county purchased the present voting system for $4.7 million. The cost of maintaining this system is approximately $120,000 annually. According to a recent quote from ES&S, the purchase of the new optical scan (with Automark) system will be a minimum of $3.6 million. The cost of maintaining the new system would be approximately $136,500 annually, according to ES&S.

Finally, paper ballot printing costs would be approximately $175,000 per county-wide election. For the three major elections this year, including the coming General Election, paper ballot costs would have been $475,000.

No matter where you stand on this issue, it is important that you voice your decision by voting in the November 7 General Election. An informed and engaged electorate is critical to the success of our democratic process.